


See The Light

by blackdragonhellfire



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Shazam! | Captain Marvel (Comics), The Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)
Genre: A few OCs for flavor - Freeform, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brother-Sister Relationships, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21939649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackdragonhellfire/pseuds/blackdragonhellfire
Summary: Billy Batson hadn't really thought about his sister in years.
Relationships: Billy Batson & Jason Todd, Billy Batson & Mary Batson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 104
Collections: Roasted Server Secret Santa 2019





	See The Light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aldebaran26](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aldebaran26/gifts).



> Enjoy!
> 
> Also to aldebaran: I'm sorry this isn't exactly what you wanted. Have a great holiday season!
> 
> The songs for this fic are:  
> -[See the Light]() by Ghost  
> -[Call Me]() by Shinedown.

The sky was bright, the clouds were fluffy, and the Fawcett City Bank was surrounded by police cars. 

Captain Marvel floated over the bank, only having just arrived at the scene. There was something about Saturdays that drove up crime, for some reason. Probably because there really was nothing to do in the afternoon. He wouldn't know. He just sort of noticed these things the more he went around and did superhero things. 

He was starting to really, really hate Saturdays. 

The Fawcett City bank door opened underneath him, and a hostage tumbled out of the building, looking worse for wear. 

Captain Marvel flew hurriedly down towards the parking lot, while a few policemen surrounded the hostage, handing him a blanket and sitting him down by a police cruiser. 

“What happened in there?” One of the policemen asked. 

“Don’t talk to him, man. He’s in shock.” The other replied. 

The hostage took a deep, shuddering breath breath. 

“I - I can t-talk. Talk.”

“Okay,” the first officer said around his cigarette, “So what the fuck happened in there?"

The hostage curled in on himself, pulling the blanket closer. 

“They - they told him to bring you a m-message.”

“And what was the message, huh?”

Captain Marvel floated behind him, and tapped the officer on the shoulder. 

“Hey officer,” he said, “Go easy on him, okay?”

The officer snarled at him.

Captain Marvel ignored it in favor of the hostage. 

“So, what happened in there? If you want to tell us.”

The hostage gulped. 

“T-they told me to tell you that they would keep the hostages until you guys l-left.”

Captain Marvel nodded. 

“So the usual then,” he responded. “Okay, so can you guys handle it out here while I handle it in there?”

The officer with the cigarette scoffed at him. 

“Don’t be stupid! You go in there, you get a bunch of people fucking-”

The other officer gave him a look, and then nodded at Captain Marvel. 

Captain Marvel smiled back, and flew off. 

* * *

The robber smirked at him. 

“It’s over, Captain Marvel!” he said, “If you don’t want her to die, you’ll let us take the money!”

The villain held a girl in his arms, a girl with long brown hair and wide brown eyes - 

_Not now, Batson. Now’s not the time to..._

The villain took the safety off of the gun. 

_...Think about Mary._

The man put his finger on the trigger. 

_No!_

The robber ran towards the door, girl in hand, but Billy flew in front of him, blocking his way. 

The robber shakily held the gun to the girl’s head, but before he could shoot, Billy had already snatched the gun from him and taken out the ammunition.

“It’s over, robber.” 

The robber attempted to back away, but a SWAT team pushed through the doors at the last second. Two of them held the robber’s arms behind his back, while the leader cuffed his wrists.

“Thanks, Cap,” he said, “We’ll take it from here.”

Captain Marvel nodded silently.

He turned towards the girl in his arms.

“Hey there. You okay, young lady?”

The girl sniffled, and looked up at him. 

“I’m taking you the police, okay? They’ll take care of you until your parents come.”

The girl nodded. 

“Okay.”

Captain Marvel flew out of the bank, and touched down by the front of the parking lot. 

The hostages streamed out of the building with the help of the SWAT team, huddled together in terror, except for a woman who struggled towards the front of the crowd. 

The girl reached out towards her.

“Mommy!”

The woman got out of the flow of the crowd, and ran over towards him.

Captain Marvel floated over to the woman, and deposited the girl into her arms. 

“There you go, ma’am.”

The woman sobbed and held her daughter to her chest. 

“Thank you,” she said tearily, “Thank you so much.”

Captain Marvel nodded. 

“It was no trouble, ma’am.”

What it did remind him of was the fact that he would never have a mother who would care like that about him like that, even if this girl who looked just like Mary did. He wouldn’t even be able to see his sister again. Not anymore. 

With a heavy heart, he flew away.

* * *

Jason didn’t know exactly why he was in Fawcett City. 

Well, he did, but the reason he originally came wouldn’t take too long for him to apprehend, especially since he was really only a low-ranking thug. Even if he did have some useful information...

Well, whatever, he decided. The job was over and done with. 

The sun was setting as Jason walked down the Fawcett City streets, getting closer and closer to wherever the hell Roy parked his motorcycle. Why the hell he had come in a bus and trusted Roy with his bike? He didn’t know. This whole plan wasn’t even his idea. 

No wonder it was failing so spectacularly. 

A familiar head of black hair walked past him, sort of absent-mindedly, as if he didn’t know or care where he was going. 

Jason stopped. 

“Hey!” he called out, “If it isn’t Billy Batson!”

The person in front of him stopped and turned around. 

“Mister Jason! Hi!”

Jason waved back.

“Heya, kid. And it’s just Jason, alright?”

“I know.”

He walked up to him, and resisted the urge to fluff up the kid’s hair, even if he knew Billy wouldn’t mind as much as other kids in his situation.

“So,” Billy asked, “What brings you here?”

“What do you think?”

Billy raised a haughty eyebrow at him. 

Jason let out a sharp bark of laughter at the gesture. 

“Man, you’ve been spending too much time with Damian. Jesus. That’s fucking hilarious.”

Billy smiled and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“I guess. He is pretty awesome.”

“Eh," Jason shrugged, "He stops being cool real quick when you’re related to him.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I’m just glad I didn’t get affected by his last little stunt...”

“Huh?”

Jason looked at him seriously.

“He started a prank war. With Tim.”

“A prank war?”

“Oh, yeah. Bet five bucks it was Dickie’s idea, but don’t tell Damian I said that. He prides himself on being original.”

Billy laughed. 

“I won’t. Promise.”

“You’d better not."

Jason sighed. 

"You know," he said, "Honestly, staying out of their antics is like trying to avoid a raging bull.”

“Ouch.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, just normal sibling stuff, am I right?”

“Yeah,” Billy said softly. 

Jason stopped walking when he noticed something up with the kid.

The kid stopped behind him, looking despondent.

“What’s up?”

Billy looked up.

“Huh?”

Billy shook his head.

“Oh, sorry about that. Just thinking about stuff.”

“Makes sense.”

Billy smiled wistfully. 

“You know how you and Dick and Tim and Damian all have those… you know, fights and stuff with one another?”

“Too well, kid. Way too well.”

Billy sighed.

“You know, my sister and I used to have little fights like that.”

Jason looked up.

“You have a sister?”

“Yeah,” Billy said. “I don’t really remember her, but I remember that we got into all sorts of silly fights. And then my dad would pull us apart and make us sit down, and we’d all talk, and…”

Billy looked up at the sky.

“I miss her.”

“Where is she now?”

“That’s the thing. I don’t know.”

Jason lifted his eyebrows in surprise. 

“Yeah. I’ve been trying to find her for years, but…”

“It ain’t working?”

Billy shook his head. 

“I thought that maybe I’d be able to find her, now that I have super powers, but… I just can’t find her. I only know that she’s still in town, but that could be anywhere. There’s so many people in Fawcett, you know?”

Jason nodded. 

“And… and…”

Billy stopped.

“It’s just… I try so hard, but what if she doesn’t recognize me? What if she doesn’t care? What if… what if she’s forgotten me? What if she… she…”

Billy’s eyes began to glisten.

“I’m such a bad brother. I can’t even find my sister right!”

Tears were running down his face, barely being staved off by Billy rubbing furiously at his eyes with his ratty sleeve. 

Jason kneeled down in front of the kid. 

“Hey. You’re not a bad brother, alright?”

Billy sniffled.

“I know what you’re thinking, kid, and you’re not. Okay?”

Jason sighed. Why was he always the one who had to comfort kids? He didn’t really mind, and he was damn good at it when he was Robin, but those years were long since gone. What the fuck was he supposed to do now? All he had been doing for the past few years was scaring the shit out of big, ugly guys. Not comforting kids. He barely even talked with them, and if he did, they generally weren’t the type who needed comforting.

What the fuck was he going to do?

He decided to start with what he usually did.

“Look, Billy,” Jason started with, “You’re a great brother, if you’re still looking for her after all these years. I mean, you haven’t stopped searching yet, right?”

Billy shook his head. 

“And you’ve been holding this close to your chest for what, years?”

“Y-yeah.”

Jason sighed. 

“You know, Bruce would have been happy to help you find her-”

“No.” Billy stated adamantly.

“Why not?”

“I wanted to f-find her myself. She’s my sister. Batman already has so much to do, a-and I didn’t want to burden him, and it was my problem, not his. I don’t want to ask him for his help when I can just find her myself. I’m a s-superhero, right?”

“And a damn good one.”

Billy looked up.

“But being a superhero doesn’t mean that you always have Batman’s observational skills, right? I mean, there’s guys like Guy Gardener, that have no idea what they’re doing. But you know what’s up and what’s going down as soon as you get to the scene and you deal with it.”

Jason ruffled Billy’s hair. 

“And what’s really cool about that is you manage to lift everyone’s spirits when you do. Even the goddamn villains! It’s fucking amazing, that’s what it is. You’re amazing, kid.”

“Yeah, I guess. B-but,”

“Uh huh?”

“I… I just… don’t know why.”

Tears began to stream down Billy’s face again. 

_Oh boy,_ Jason thought. _I really must be out of practice._

“Why? Why hasn’t the Wizard found her yet? I asked him to help me y-years ago when I first got my powers. And… and why have I had to go through my entire l-life without knowing her?”

“That’s not your fault.”

Billy didn’t respond.

“That was the foster system’s fault, not yours. You were only five, and you were grieving.”

“Yeah,” Billy said softly. “I guess.”

Jason looked at him. 

“And hey! It’s never too late to start trying to find her on your own. Have you checked with the Child Services Department about this?”

Billy paled.

“N-No,” he stuttered out, “If I go, they’ll-they’ll just put me back into the system, and I can’t… I can’t...”

Billy was breathing heavily at this point. 

“Deep breaths, kid. Deep breaths. In and out slowly. In…”

Billy breathed in. 

“And out.”

Billy exhaled. 

“You got this, okay?”

Billy nodded. 

“And besides, who said you had to go as Billy Batson?”

Jason smirked at him. 

Billy smiled back shakily.

He knew what to do.

* * *

Captain Marvel floated nervously across the street from the Fawcett City Child Services building, trying to figure out what to do. 

He knew that his old caseworker’s name was Katie? Caroline? No, Carol! That’s what it was. But he didn’t know if Carol was also Mary’s caseworker.

 _What if she isn’t?_ Billy worried. _What if she doesn’t know anything?_

He took a deep breath. 

_Well, I’m going to find her and ask her anyway._

Captain Marvel rose into the air, and flew across the street, landing smoothly by the door. 

The windows to the offices were darkened, and the parking lot was almost empty, meaning only one thing...

Billy sighed. 

Oh well, he guessed. He’d just come back the next day and try again.

He turned around, ready to go away, but then, the door opened. 

A woman stepped out of the building, key in hand. She closed the door silently, and then put the key into the lock, ready to close up shop and head in for the night.

Billy recognized her instantly.

“Hey! Uh… Miss Carol, right?”

The woman turned around and dropped her key. 

“Oh! Captain Marvel, was it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What are you doing here, at this time of night?”

Billy took a deep breath. 

This was it. 

“I’m asking something for a friend of mine…”

Carol nodded. 

“Ask away.”

“So… you know a Mary Batson, right?”

Carol stared at him. 

“I’m sorry sir, but there’s no way I’m going to tell you a young girl’s whereabouts without express consent from my superiors, even if you are a superhero. Have a good day.”

She began to walk away, her curly afro bobbing up and down.

Billy put his hand to his face. 

Great, he thought. There was no way he would find her now!

“Wait!” Billy cried. 

She turned around. 

“It’s just - her brother!”

“Her brother?”

“Yeah. Billy Batson?”

She sighed. 

“William Batson… I haven’t heard anything about that boy in quite a while.”

Billy nodded. That was definitely a good thing, at least in his opinion. 

“You don’t have to explain it to me, ma’am. In fact, he’s why I’m asking you this today.”

“You’ve found him?”

“Yes ma’am.”

He hated the fact that he was telling her anything. But he knew that whatever he would tell her wasn’t going to tell her anything about him. He knew better than that.

“He seemed really, really skittish around adults. I think that he must have been really desperate to find her if he came to me for help.”

Carol sighed. 

“A lot of kids are like that. I wish I could say that our system is flawless, but… it really isn’t.”

“You can say that again, ma’am.”

Carol laughed. 

“I guess you know a lot of these kids, Captain.”

Billy nodded. 

“I do."

Carol sighed again. 

“What do you want to know?”

“Just - just where she is, and if she’s okay. Billy worries about her, you know.”

“I can’t disclose where she is, but Mary Batson is currently living very happily with a family, if William is wondering.”

“Oh.”

That didn’t tell him anything!

“Is there a name that they have? So that he can go and visit her one day.”

Carol sighed, and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“Mind you, I’m only telling you so that William might find his way back to a home.”

Captain Marvel nodded. But inside, he wilted. Now he couldn’t even visit his own sister because of these foster care people! He knew they meant well, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t at least a little miffed at them.

“The Bromfields.”

The Bromfields. He could remember that.

“Okay.”

Carol sighed again, and then looked up at him.

“Say, Captain.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think there’s anyway to get kids like William to come back to the system?”

Captain Marvel floated there, unsure of what to say. Would he say what he thought, and look like a neglectful adult? Or would he say the responsible thing?

Then, at long last, he shook his head. 

“I don’t think so, ma’am. They ran away for a reason, right?”

Carol nodded. 

“They had legitimate reasons, I’m sure. But what would have made them want to stay on the streets?”

“I guess they just really, really didn’t want to go back.”

“Even for food or shelter?”

Billy shook his head. 

Carol looked at him. 

“I guess the system will just have to change. For these kids' sakes.”

Billy nodded. 

Carol put her key in her shirt pocket, and looked towards the parking lot. 

“I’ve got to go home, Captain, or I won’t be able to wake up, at this rate! Have a good night.”

Captain Marvel was already floating, but he waved down at the woman below him.

“Have a great night, ma’am. And thank you!”

* * *

_Mary Bromfield milled about in the parking lot, waiting for the spelling bee to start._

_She was nervous, since she didn’t know if she was going to win. Would she even get close to the top? She didn’t want to disappoint her parents, even if she knew they’d love her no matter what._ _She had to do the best she could._

_Even if she wasn’t too fond of her parents right now._

_Her thoughts shifted to what had happened two weeks ago, when she had spied in on the meeting the child services lady was having with her parents._ _She knew that she was adopted, and that her parents died when she was young, but the fact that she had a brother was a bit shocking. Why did her parents just take her in, and not him too? She wondered. Why was he left alone while she wasn’t?_

_And why did they try to keep him from her?_

_William Batson was his name, according to the child services lady. Her twin, left alone on the streets because he ran away from a home. They didn’t know where he was, she said, but if he passed by, they were supposed to call the Child Services Department, so he could get back into the system, and hopefully, into a home._

_Hopefully, she thought, she would get to meet him. Even if he was some sort of punk delinquent or a psycho or a gangster or something, she still wanted to meet him. He was her brother, after all. They were family._

_Even if she didn’t know she even had a brother until two weeks ago._

_What if he didn’t remember her?_

_But she knew he did, since the child services lady had said that he had asked her where she was. So she knew that was out._

_She took a deep breath._

_“Hey, Mary!”_

_Mary turned around._

_“Oh, hey Anne! I didn’t see you there!”_

_Anne laughed, and put an arm around her shoulder, leaning in to whisper conspiratorially._

_“Any luck with your brother?”_

_Mary shook her head._

_“There’s no way he’s going to be here. He probably doesn’t even go to school.”_

_Anne grimaced._

_“Yeah,” Mary replied, “I mean, he’s on the streets, right? Why would he want to go back to school when it would just get him caught?”_

_“To see you again?”_

_Mary sighed._

_“I’m starting to doubt that.”_

_Anne gave her a look._

_“Geez, girl. Chill! You’re gonna rock this place. Mary Bromfield, spelling champion of Fawcett City. Isn’t that cool?”_

_“Uh…” said a voice behind them._

_The girls turned around._

_A boy with a ratty red sweater and bright blue eyes stood behind them, rubbing the back of his neck._

_“Hey… uh, did you say her name was Mary Bromfield?”_

_Mary and Anne looked at each other, and then nodded._

_The boy held out his hand._

_“Hey, I’m Billy Batson. It’s nice to meet you."_

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't know if Mary had any friends in the comics, (she probably did,) so I made up one. And the foster care lady. So...
> 
> Thanks for Mistborn-Hero on Discord for the idea for the first scene, and thanks to the Roasted Discord Server for all the support I got!
> 
> Enjoy and review!


End file.
